Alex Boraine founded the International Center for Transitional Justice and served as president for three years. In June 2004, he returned to South Africa and took over as chairperson. From 1998 through early 2001, he served as professor of law at New York University and as director of the New York University Law School's Justice in Transition program.
In 1995, Dr. Boraine was appointed by President Nelson Mandela to be deputy chair of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, serving under Chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He held this post until 1998.
From 1986 to 1995, Dr. Boraine headed two South African nonprofit organizations concerned with ending apartheid and addressing its legacy. He was a member of the South African Parliament from 1974 to 1986, and served as president of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa from 1970 to 1972, having been ordained as a Methodist minister in 1956.
Dr. Boraine held degrees from Rhodes University in South Africa, Oxford University in England, and Drew University in the United States, as well as six honorary doctorates from universities around the world. He was the author of five books including A Country Unmasked, A Life in Transition, and most recently, What's Gone Wrong? South Africa on the Brink of Failed Statehood (NYU Press, 2014). In 2000, he was awarded the President's Medal for Human Rights in Italy. In 2014, he received the Order of the Baobab from the Office of the Presidency of South Africa.
Alex Boraine, a tireless comrade in the struggle for human rights around the world, passed away in December 2018. He has been called the “Prince of Peace” for his lifelong commitment to transforming South Africa’s society through truth, reconciliation, and justice, following the horrors of apartheid.
